Film Review

This Guy Ritchie-lite retelling of the famous real-life Hatton Garden Job from a couple of years back doesn't have much new to add to the genre, but is a fun enough cockney caper.

Director Ronnie Thompson's solo directorial debut (having previously partnered up for co-directorial work on the effective Tower Block), is certainly a flashy affair, trading in Ritchie-esque stylisation to introduce a bevvy of offbeat OAP characters, each of which is willing to return to the game for a big heist which has landed in the lap of recently released crook Matthew Goode (Watchman, The Imitation Game). Clive Russell's (Game of Thrones, Ripper Street) larger-than-life getaway driver, David Calder's (Cracker, The World is Not Enough) diabetic 'muscle' and Larry Lamb's (Eastenders) leader of the pack comprise this rather atypical group of well-seasoned vets, undertaking an audacious heist of the Hatton Garden safe deposit company.

Although lightweight stuff - despite the purported threats of gangster-lite bosses Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck) and Stephen Moyer (True Blood) - The Hatton Garden Job is still an enjoyable enough piece of cinematic fun; a Brit take on something like Ocean's 11, juggling its budgetary restrictions, and the limitations of the scope of the true story which it is based upon, and framing them within a very stylish package that covers up some of these shortcomings. The old crew cast are on form - all familiar Brit actors - and they arguably fare better than the likes of Caine and Freeman did in the recent Going in Style, perhaps because you don't expect as much from them, and perhaps because nobody utters the words 'one last job'.

Picture Quality

The Hatton Garden Job comes to UK shores on a Region B-locked Blu-ray complete with a decent enough 1080p/AVC-encoded High Definition video presentation framed in the movie's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen.

Shot reasonably stylishly, it's quite a visually engaging endeavour, and the presentation stands up to scrutiny for the most part, delivering decent - although far from perfect - detail, reasonable contrast, and a strong enough colour scheme. None of it's perfect, but it does a decent enough job with the material.

Not perfect but it does a decent enough job with the material

Detail on close-ups is quite good - detail on some darker sequences not so much so, with softness on a couple of third-act slow-mo shots through an intermittently overhead-lit passage looking truly questionable. Still, it's a sporadic criticism, as, for the most part, it's a perfectly unobjectionable presentation. You're not going to be wowed by it in any way - although the visual flair does go some way towards making up for that - but, like the film's protagonists, it gets the job done.

Sound Quality

The accompanying DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is a strong enough affair, particularly since the fast-edit cutting and heavy stylisation of the visuals is normally accompanied with a suitably enthusiastic aural element. Dialogue remains firmly prioritised across the frontal array, given clear and coherent distinction throughout (although that doesn't necessarily make up for the lack of any subtitle options).

A suitably enthusiastic aural element

Effects are mostly nominal background beats, with a few atmospherics, environment tweaks and nuances that give the movie a palpable soundscape, even if there's nothing notably immersive beyond the score and music track segments. Those bits, largely - as aforementioned - designed to accompany the flashy visuals, allow the track to have more punch and presence, and give both the surrounds and the LFE channel more to do.

Extras

A decent selection of extra features adorn the disc, headlined by an Audio Commentary with actor Larry Lamb, which is accompanied by an Inside the 10 minute Hatton Garden Job Featurette, and a whole hour of Interview clips oddly compiled and presented as 'EPK Soundbites', featuring almost all of the cast in extended interviews. There's also a 'Lawbreaker' Music Video from Jason & The Skagonauts featuring clips from the film.

Blu-ray Verdict

A fun enough cockney caper

2015's real Hatton Garden Job gets some Guy Ritchie-lite treatment courtesy of director Ronnie Thompson, making his solo debut here. It's a light and frothy, low budget affair which still manages to be a little bit stylish and reasonably fun thanks to a strong b-list cast of Brit familiars. It may not be the kind of thing you rush out and buy to add to your collection, but at least, for fans of the film, it comes on a strong enough Blu-ray with decent picture, sound and extras.